Vision Zero

Podcast.

I'm your host, Matt Stickland, City Hall reporter for and editor of week as there is every week which means city council had to once again debate bike lanes there was also a board of police commissioners meeting that was seismic and we do need to talk about the active transit advisory committee meeting that happened on thursday october 22nd which is like two weeks ago when you're listening to this But that was the meeting where Deputy Traffic Authority Sam Trask explained that Halifax doesn't actually have a commitment to Vision Zero or a Vision Zero approach to road safety.

But before all of that, it's Monday and there is a new paper on the shelves today and it's all about the bike lanes.

And this week's paper is written by Matt Stickland.

me that's right and on the

back there's more stuff what who knows probably port of police commissioner stuff maybe some transit stuff i don't know it's wednesday when i'm writing this podcast script and thursday when i'm recording it and i don't write the paper until saturday morning when my deadline is so close that it feels oppressive you know the prime creative writing conditions This is awkward phrasing but super fun, but you'll remember that recently we talked about the Active Transit Advisory Committee aka ATAC meeting in September because Vision Zero Halifax gave a presentation where they asked the city to actually adopt Vision Zero and gave a bunch of recommendations about how the city could change things in order to achieve our stated goal of Vision Zero.

You could say that Vision Zero Halifax or Vision Zero Shibuktuk was trying to be the change in the culture of driving and they were trying to leverage the democratic processes that exist at their disposal to do that.

But at that September meeting where Vision Zero was organizing and using democracy in the way that our democracy is designed to be used in order for community organizations to exercise their power, city staff were like, hold the phone.

The Havre City Council is set to review a budget amendment for the city's general fund during its meeting on Monday night.

The agenda also features the recommendation of Jenna Bednarofsky as a police officer for the Havre Police Department, alongside approvals for the Montana Main Street draw and the city's new Vision Zero safety goal and council initiative manual.

Additionally, council members will consider pledged securities for Independence Bank, the October claims and manual warrants, and committee reports.

Public comment will be available at the start of the meeting for specific agenda items and again at the close for non-agenda matters.

My heart goes out to the family members of those involved.

But, you know, it makes me think about this audacious goal the city of Austin has about Vision Zero and how we're trying to end traffic fatalities.

I don't think we'll ever meet that goal.

Well, you could get pretty close to ending fatalities on our roadways in Austin if you get the homeless people off our streets.

I mean, when I drove down 35 today and I saw those silly circles with the X through it and people walking across, and I thought to myself, oh my gosh, who walks across 35?

Yeah, people that aren't thinking clearly.

You can slap the words Vision Zero on a city presentation, but it doesn't make a dangerous intersection any safer.

That's true, that's true.

It's likely to launch early next year and will be volunteer-only with no funding for now.

It's part of Vision Zero, which aims to end traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2030.

Also on safety, the county and Nova Parks kicked off a trail safety series today.

Officials stress that e-bikes are allowed on trails, but electric motorcycles, which can top 40 miles per hour and require a motorcycle license, are banned from county trails.

Chicago has a plan to have zero traffic fatalities across the city of Chicago.

It's called Vision Zero.

And we are actually making it happen.

So within the last three and a half years, we've had zero traffic fatalities in the